We are told in II Corinthians 3:17, "Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." This is one of the great distinctions between the kingdom of God and the domain of the devil. The devil seeks increasing control and dominance over his subjects, while the Lord sets His people free. Everywhere that the Word of the Lord goes forth, increasing liberty will always be a result.
Freedom is one of the greatest benefits of the kingdom and must never be taken for granted. Those who begin to take it for granted inevitably begin to lose it. There is a responsibility that comes with freedom—we have to choose, and it is up to the free to choose what is right. Therefore, a primary work of the kingdom is not just getting people to obey, but educating them so that they can choose what is right. Think about this: After the one thousand-year reign of Christ, we see that the devil, who has been bound for a thousand years so that he cannot continue to deceive the nations, is let loose again! This we read in Revelation 20:2-3:
And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years,
and threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he should not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time.
After the one thousand-year reign of Christ in which the earth and mankind are restored, He is going to allow the devil to have another shot at them! We can assume that after the failed experiment of the first fall and rebellion against God, mankind will pass this test easily, but that the Lord would allow it says there is much we need to understand. His creation will be free—even free to choose evil.
For this reason we cannot legislate true morality, which is of the heart. However, if this is true, we also cannot legislate immorality. When children are suspended from school for praying or even using the name of Jesus, but all forms of perversion and immorality are now taught in our schools and encouraged even in the textbooks, then this is no longer freedom, but a new form of tyranny being imposed against morals. This will inevitably happen if those who are called to be salt and light do not fight the good fight and stand against this tyranny. However, to be true salt and true light we must do this while still promoting and maintaining freedom because "...where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty."
Legislation may need to be passed to again restore the freedom of speech and freedom in general regarding morals. We need to have wisdom in understanding how the evil one and his messengers will use freedom to try and steal everyone else's freedom, and we must resist this. However, regardless of what happens in any of the present kingdoms or governments of this world, we are now to live under the King and His kingdom. We have been given weapons that are divinely powerful, even far more powerful than any law or Supreme Court decision.
Even after the one thousand-year reign of Christ, when the devil is let loose for a time to try and deceive the nations again, we know that the devil and his hosts will then be thrown into the lake of fire. The ultimate victory of good over evil is assured, but we need to understand why the Lord allows His creation be tested like this. This is a bit more than having the freedom to choose. The devil has been around far longer, has far more experience, is far more intelligent in the first place, and is far more cunning. This hardly seems like a fair fight, except we have God!
That is the point of this testing and conflict. It is not just a matter of having the right form of government, but being vitally connected to God Himself. We are not building on a system and principles, but on a Person. We must always keep this in mind. We are preparing the way for the King, not just a system of government. We are doing this by building a highway or a higher-way for people to live. This is not just about learning to control people and getting them to do the right things. It is about people being conformed to His image and changed so that their ways are His ways. Then when they must choose, they choose wisely, having His mind and heart, because they are one with Him. To be a part of His kingdom is to be in Him.
The kingdom will come to the church first, and then through the church to the world. This is why our first devotion must be to see the church built into what it is called to be. This does not mean that we should not try to be good citizens of our country, but we are citizens of the kingdom of God first and that is where our first devotion and allegiance must be. If the church in a nation fails, then the civil government will not have a chance against the evil onslaught of our time. Righteous laws that defend godly principles and morality can help, but only those who are abiding in the King can truly stand and say, "Be gone Satan!" It is prayer and prophetic proclamations that are changing the U.S. Supreme Court, not votes. We need to now be praying for all upcoming elections, and we do need to vote. Very soon a third Supreme Court Judge will be appointed, and will need to be confirmed by the Senate. Pray, but also vote.
Choose who you vote for carefully. Also, learn how to choose all things carefully. To do something carefully means to be full of care. We should care for the nations we live in and our communities enough to help in any way for the light to prevail. We should be engaged in every way that we can to be the salt or light.
Does the prospect of choosing seem incongruous with John Calvin's doctrine of election and grace, or the sovereignty of God, since he was the father of democracy? First, as some of the great authorities on Calvin have maintained, Calvin would not be a Calvinist in the definition that many have of that term. It is true his disciples carried many things to extremes that he never did, which is often the case. However, the Bible trumps Calvin or Calvinism. God's sovereignty and the free will of man are not in conflict. They are both true. They are not each 50 percent of the truth, but each are 100 percent true. This is something that needs to be resolved for many before they will be able to see and understand the kingdom.
None of the evil experienced on the earth today was God's will. It was man's will. In His sovereignty God gave man freedom, as we are told in Psalm 115:16, "The heavens are the heavens of the Lord, but the earth He has given to the sons of men." The Lord gave authority over the earth to mankind, and mankind chose to rebel, opening the door wide for the ultimate evil despot, the devil, to dominate man and the earth. It will be mankind's choice to do good that closes that door.
Mankind, in these terms, was represented by two men, the first Adam and "the last Adam." When the first Adam sinned, all of mankind was subjected to the bondage of sin. When the last Adam chose to obey, He made the way for all to be set free from the bondage of sin, to be reconciled to God, and to be fully restored to His purpose. He also went further and opened the door for those who would choose to obey in the evil age before the kingdom was restored to be a part of a "new creation" in which mankind could actually take on the divine nature and become sons and daughters of God as members of His own family, not just subjects.
Principles of government are important, but the government of God is not just being built out of having better principles of government, but out of people. We are not preparing people to just recognize and obey a better form of government, but to have the government of God in their hearts to the degree that even if the lights went out in New York City, no one would steal or break the law because it is in their hearts. Forms of government are the scaffolding, not the building. To get a person to choose right even when they could choose to cheat and get away with it will help prepare the way for the kingdom more than devising any new system. At the same time, the kingdom of God is going to take over the systems of this world, and in some places and some ways it is already being done, and a highway, a higher way, is being built to prepare the way for the Lord.
In the weeks to come, we will get a bit more practical, and we will continue to examine the work that has already been done on this highway so that we know where we are, and where we go from here.
